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Seattle Catholic Immigration Summit marks 10 years with national partners
The free Oct. 3 gathering at Seattle University partners with Catholic IMMpact, a national effort by El Paso’s Hope Border Institute and the Center for Migration Studies of New York, to help Catholics respond to immigration enforcement.
By Morgen White | FāVS News Reporter
SEATTLE, Wash – Seattle’s 10th annual Catholic Immigration Summit is going national, partnering Saturday with a project that has held gatherings across the country to help Catholics respond to mass deportation and detention.
The free day-long summit “Witness to Hope: Pastoral Care of Immigrant Communities” is co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Seattle, Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS), El Paso’s Hope Border Institute and Seattle University Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture (ICTC). It will feature prayer, teaching rooted in Catholic theology and effective response strategies.
Jessica Palmer, director of ICTC, says what makes the summit unique is that every year is different, with themes addressing current needs.
“It responds to what we’ve referred to as signs of the times in the Catholic tradition,” Palmer said.
History of the summit
The formation of the annual event started in the fall of 2016 with the Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture along with St. James Cathedral and the Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center (IPJC) moved by sudden changes to immigration policy. The first summit was held in 2017 hosted by ICTC.
New this year is a strategic partnership with the Catholic Immigration Prophetic Action Project (Catholic IMMpact).
Catholic IMMpact, a partnership between CMS and Hope Border Institute, organizes a response with and for people in the United States who are living in fear of immediate deportation.
Chris Koehler, director of Missions and Immigrant Affairs at the Archdiocese of Seattle, has worked in immigrant assistance for over 30 years. Palmer said Koehler heard about their work and reached out to bring a gathering to Seattle.
Astrid Liden, communications officer for Hope, said this summit follows the continued work that Hope has been doing in partnership with CMS to host regional gatherings across the country.
“Essentially, this project seeks to mobilize and support the Church’s response on immigration, and the realities that are facing our immigrant communities today,” Liden said.
Liden said connecting with ICTC and the Archdiocese of Seattle became an opportunity to bring together the two partnerships. This collaboration will also reinforce Liden’s presentation on effective communication strategies on faith and migration.
Summit hopes to unify Catholics on immigration
“The reality is that Catholics are very divided because Catholics mirror the American public. And sadly what we’ve seen is that Catholics are not unified when it comes to opinions on immigration enforcement, even though we have very clear teaching and we have very clear voices that are guiding us in this work,” Liden said.
Liden hopes the demonstration will motivate and mobilize both leaders and everyday Catholics as messengers of goodwill while providing them a structure to approach the immigration conversation rooted in Catholic teaching.
“Our identity as Catholics comes before any sort of partisan identity. The way that our nation is right now, and our world, is that politics determine our faith and values, not faith and values determining our politics. We need to be speaking about this pastorally rather than putting ourselves into partisan boxes because when we put ourselves into partisan boxes, you’re essentially closing off opposition,” Liden said.
Palmer said that while the summit is conducted from the Catholic perspective, all are welcome and Spanish translation will be provided.
The event spans 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 3. Registration is required.
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